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Lou Cannon -- dean of the California press corp -- on Reagan, California and the future of the Republican party. Quotable:

In the century before Mr. Davis took office, only three Democrats had served as governor. Beginning in 1952, Republican presidential candidates carried California in all but one election for four decades.

Traditionally, recurrent defeats encourage political parties to become more inclusive. The state's Republican Party, however, remains firmly in the hands of social conservatives who have set themselves against the majority of Californians ..

Mr. Reagan was elected governor in 1966 after promising to "squeeze, cut, and trim" the budget, and he made some trims, to be sure. But he balanced the deficit he had inherited the old-fashioned way — by raising taxes.

In the first week of his governorship Mr. Reagan proposed a $1 billion tax increase, then the largest tax hike ever sponsored by any governor of any state. It was a relatively progressive proposal, too, imposing higher rate increases on banks and corporations than on individuals. The Reagan tax increase was equivalent to $5.3 billion in 2003 dollars.

In addition, Governor Reagan signed a permissive abortion-rights bill that was supported by most Republican legislators.

And Cannon's bottom line:

In this milieu, and in this field, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only candidate with the potential to be realistic about California's financial situation.